Present for the March 14 signing at WUHS were: Front row, from left, Lisa Gannon-Lewis (mother), Olivia Lewis and Chad Lewis (father); Back row, from left, Erika Martin (SSU Women’s Assistant Golf Coach), Marci Nehus (WUHS Girls Golf Coach) and Ethan Stricklett (WUHS Athletic Director). (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
From never playing golf to joining the West Union girls golf team for just her senior season, to winning the Adams County Cup and a co-championship of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, to leading her team to its first-ever berth in the OHSAA State Golf Tournament and then finally to signing a letter of intent to play college golf.
It’s been quite the whirlwind year for West Union High School senior Olivia Lewis and it all culminated on March 14 in the WUHS gymnasium when Lewis signed her letter of intent to become a member of the women’s golf program at Shawnee State University.
“This is all very cool,” said Lewis. “I did not expect myself to be in this spot and it’s just surprising to say the least. We had a golf scramble for my travel softball team and one team didn’t have enough players and they asked me to play with them. I had never played golf and I greened a hole at Hilltop and just got hooked and played every day last summer to get ready for high school golf.”
“The Shawnee head coach got in touch with me after she had seen my profile. We started talking and I knew that if I played college golf, I wanted to stay close to home.”
“While in high school, I learned that you definitely have to work hard to get to where you want to be,” Lewis continued. “It might look like I didn’t work very hard and it all just came natural but I played all summer long. I’m a Straight A student and I’ve put lots of work into that and you’ve just go to want it.”
West Union girls golf coach Marci Nehus was the beneficiary of Lewis’s new-found golf skills.
“This was Olivia’s first year playing golf and she stepped right in as a leader on our team,” said Nehus. “She took charge at practices and made sure the girls were doing what they were supposed to and she would even stay after practice and that obviously paid off. I’m really excited to see her move on to the next level and see what she can accomplish.”
While at Shawnee, Lewis plans to study in the Nursing program, with the hopes of eventually becoming a Nurse Practitioner.
